Nestlé has shut down a production line after a positive salmonella test on a batch of chocolate morsels at its one of its facilities in the US, for the second time this year.

Nestlé spokeswoman Laurie MacDonald told the Journal Times that that none of the contaminated morsels left the Burlington, Wisconsin plant so a product recall was not necessary.

She said that the production line was shut down for thorough additional cleaning as part of the company’s rigorous quality assurance protocols.

The article states that a single sample of chocolate chips tested positive for salmonella at the facility on 22 April and that MacDonald said batches before and after that one all tested negative.

The plant had subsequently undergone an intensive cleaning after the positive result and the spokeswoman said that the production line was expected to be up and running today.

The piece also quotes MacDonald as saying that Nestlé is testing for salmonella throughout the plant, as well as investigating what the source may have been. She said raw agricultural products, such as cocoa beans, can carry salmonella.

In mid-February the company also discovered salmonella during routine testing at the same Wisconsin facility and a spokeswoman for Nestlé told FoodProductionDaily.com then that she could not confirm the source for the bacteria at the Burlington plant.

Another contamination incident concerning the manufacturer occurred in January of this year when Nestlé informed the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that it detected E.coli 0157 H7 in its Toll House refrigerated cookie dough.

Again the firm said it had not been necessary to issue a recall as none of the tainted dough had left the site in Danville, Virginia.

This was the second occasion that E.coli had been found at the plant.

In summer 2009, Nestlé issued a nationwide recall of its Toll House dough after the bacteria was found in dough samples. The company confirmed it had implemented new testing protocols at the facility and had begun using heat-treated flour in the manufacture of the dough.

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